This invention relates to a driver warning system for a vehicle, and more specifically, the invention relates to a driver warning system that better conveys to the vehicle driver the relative safety of the driving condition.
Vehicles are incorporating more sophisticated equipment to assist a driver in more safely operating a vehicle. Some equipment has been directed to monitoring the conditions between the driver""s vehicle and a traffic vehicle. Specifically, the distance between the driver and traffic vehicles is monitored to minimize the potential for collisions between the vehicles. A complex system of sensors and software has been employed to detect, for example, the position of traffic vehicles in various lanes of traffic and the change in speed of the traffic vehicles. When a potentially unsafe condition arises, the driver is warned in sufficient time to take corrective action if necessary. However, some relevant driver vehicle handling conditions have not been considered when determining the safety status of the vehicle.
Commercial vehicles have numerous systems that provide feedback to the driver, typically through lights or buzzers located in the driver cab. As a result, there are many lights and sounds that the driver must distinguish between to properly identify the message being relayed to the driver by the vehicle""s systems. Typically, a single light with steady or flashing illumination has been used to alert the driver of a potentially unsafe condition. Alternatively, a buzzer has been used instead of the light. Because there are so many lights and buzzers in the vehicle cab, warnings often go unnoticed or are ignored by the driver. Therefore, what is needed is a driver warning system that detects additional vehicle handling conditions and produces warnings in the vehicle cab that are easily identifiable by the driver and which correlate to the magnitude of the potentially unsafe condition.
The present invention provides an improved driver warning system that more effectively conveys the urgency of a potentially unsafe condition. The driver warning system detects a distance based parameter, preferably headway time or range rate, between a driver vehicle and a traffic vehicle using various sensors. A controller with a multi-variable table determines the safety status of the driver vehicle relative to the traffic vehicle. The safety status is compared to a plurality of predetermined safety status levels, which correspond to particular alert signal intensities. For example, a first alert signal intensity may be a light flashing at a first rate, and a second alert signal intensity may be the light flashing at a second rate which is greater than the first rate. A safety status level is selected for the current safety status of the driver vehicle. The alert signal, which may be the light mentioned above, is activated at the alert signal intensity for the selected safety status.
Accordingly, the above invention provides a driver warning system that detects additional vehicle handling conditions and produces warnings in the vehicle cab that are easily identifiable by the driver and which correlate to the magnitude of the potentially unsafe condition.